The federal government says it will soon start rolling out broadband connections to 700,000 premises that still have no access to fixed services.

The priority NBN rollout will be based on new maps pinpointing the premises that should receive fixed connections first, but what mix of technologies will be used to deliver the high-speed service has not yet been determined.

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull told Fairfax Media the government would prioritise areas based on the soon-to-be-published Broadband Availability and Quality study and location maps. The study was commissioned by the Department of Communications last year to identify areas with the lowest internet penetration. A summary of results was published in December.

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Turnbull said regions without fixed line internet would, where possible, receive a high-speed broadband service ahead of others already connected via ADSL and pay TV cables, known as HFC.

“One of the key rationales for a national broadband network must be to provide services to areas where the market on its own has not," he said.

The announcement comes as the Liberal leader in Tasmania, Will Hodgman, on Monday admitted changes to the national broadband network's design from full-fibre to a mix of technologies could cost his party the state election.

It followed NBN Co executive chairman Ziggy Switkowski's comments on ABC Radio in Tasmania last week. Switkowski said it had been agreed NBN Co would complete the state's rollout using a mix of technologies, including copper.

Turnbull said priority areas wouldn't be disclosed until the government published the new maps "very soon''. The mix of technologies used for the priority connections would subsequently be determined by NBN Co.

The government is looking to eliminate overlaps such as the recent NBN rollout in Ballarat, where iiNet already had a cable network delivering services at NBN-speeds and prices. The move infuriated iiNet, who complained of double up and unnecessary competition.

Areas currently underserviced include the Mornington Peninsula and South Rosebud, outside Melbourne, in Victoria.

Turnbull visited Mornington twice last year, once while in opposition and again after the election as Communications Minister, fronting a community forum to discuss the region's broadband plight. The issue was brought to his attention by local federal member Greg Hunt, who was first alerted by the local council.

Mornington resident Peter Tisdall, who has been trying to sign up for ADSL services for years, claims he was refused a connection because there were no free ports in the local phone exchange. He also said he was told by Telstra it would not upgrade the exchange because of the impending NBN rollout. The rollout is scheduled to start in Mornington in 2018.

"We've been through Optus, iiNet, TPG and they've all said ADSL is available but when they dig deeper, they find out there's no free ports; they can only put you on the list and [say] 'we'll just get back to you,'" Tisdall said.

"They don't have any capacity in the exchange, which Telstra owns outright.

"No one has ADSL down here, we all just sit on expensive wireless devices."

A Telstra spokesperson said the company recently upgraded its exchanges in the wider Mornington area, adding more than 600 new ADSL ports, and planned additional work in Rosebud in the coming months.

"Telstra is committed to ongoing innovation and investment in our fixed line data network in order to meet the growing needs and expectations of our customers," the spokesperson said.

"Despite these upgrades, some customers may not be able to access ADSL services due to high demand or they are not served by the specific parts of the exchange that have received an upgrade.''

Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor Antonella Celi said the ADSL coverage in the area was inadequate to meet demands for residents.

"The government and Telstra need to understand that consumers need as many options as possible to access the changes in e-technology," she said

74 comments

It would have been great if the last government did this instead of focusing on areas for political motivations...

Commenter

Nick

Location

Perth

Date and time

February 19, 2014, 3:12PM

Pretty sure it's been said time and time again a majority of the initial roll outs where for test sites to check builds for the NBN and the rest where built on PoI... but hey if that's what you believe in whatever I say won't really make much of a difference will it?

Commenter

RocK_M

Location

I want chinese take-away!

Date and time

February 19, 2014, 4:32PM

Do you have any evidence to back up that accusation?

The locations were chosen based on PoI (exchanges) and rollout started from there outward rolling out ad hoc is very very expensive

Commenter

AJ

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

February 19, 2014, 4:45PM

I think you find when who gets fibre to the home is determined that political influence will be at play again. At least with the everyone-gets-fibre plan it was only timing that was being fiddled. With this new MT-Mess it will permanently put some areas into backwater.

Business will migrate over time to fibre-to-the-premises areas, reducing the business case for upgrading the remaining areas (looking at a 10 year horizon). For example, when I next move house (should be years away) I won't be buying in a non-fibre served area. Same as I checked internet speed when I moved into where I am now.

Commenter

Alistair

Date and time

February 19, 2014, 4:54PM

Yet another broken promise, another lie, by the Liberals. Is anyone really surprised? They just can't tell the truth.

Commenter

Tone

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

February 19, 2014, 4:59PM

It would have been even better if this government had just stuck to the plan, instead of 're-inventing it' ( read : watering it down ) for their 'political motivations'.

What started off as a great initiative for all, has been bastardised into an unfathomable and extreme example of perpetuating the 'haves' and 'have nots'...what am I saying, that's LNP policy full stop...

Commenter

Trevor Phillips

Date and time

February 19, 2014, 7:49PM

my understanding is that rollout areas were picked by NBN Co, first based on differing environmental conditions for the trial and subsequently building out from locations with the necessary backend capacity - because picking a random patchwork of locations wouldn't lead to an efficient rollout.

but I do agree - the previous government should have forced NBN Co to address under-serviced areas first.

Commenter

Iain

Date and time

February 19, 2014, 10:52PM

Blame those whose votes did not give Labor a majority - instead they had to pander to independents and therefore rollout to places early where it was not quite sensical to do so.

Whoever voted for the LNP or preferenced them in the last election is to blame for this schemozzle of a rollout. It is a total farce, and unworthy of our nation.

The grand idea of an wholesaler running only a 3 tier NBN (fibre, wireless, satellite) entirely separate from the incumbent retailers is totally destroyed.

Commenter

Quasimofoso

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

February 19, 2014, 11:00PM

The last govt rolled out my area just before the election. Well into the next year, this govt have done nothing to actually have connections started. Oh, except scale back a 10 suburb rollout that was a good way into it, to a two block rollout... Can't let Canberrans have superior FTTP if the rest of the country is getting crappy FTTN can we?

Commenter

Daniel

Date and time

February 19, 2014, 11:00PM

What a dumb statement Nick I am smack bang in the heart of one the safest National Party seats in the nation and I have been connected to the NBN since September last and it is fantastic. Political rubbish like you write will do nothing to get our whole nation quickly connected. Statements like yours are actually forcing the less enlightened conservative politicians to further retard the development of the NBN.

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